


Anywhere I Go There You Are

by celeste9



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Minor Leia Organa/Han Solo, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Siblings, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-24 20:25:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10749177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: When Luke runs into trouble looking for an old Jedi Temple, he seeks help from the two people he knows will always answer when he calls.





	Anywhere I Go There You Are

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alexcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/gifts).



> Title from Vance Joy.

The planet was uninhabited, out in the Western Reaches. Luke knew that finding anything would be a longshot but there had been rumors of the existence of one of the early Jedi Temples and he had to see for himself. There was so much he didn’t know, so much knowledge that had been lost, destroyed by the Empire. Han always laughed when he talked about Luke’s questing but it was just something he had to do.

The problem was that the planet was surrounded by an immense storm system and it was wreaking havoc with his X-wing’s systems. R2-D2 was working overdrive to manage things, making repairs as quickly as he could, but Luke was nevertheless coming in too hot without a clear picture of what he was heading into. 

“Artoo!” he yelled, trying to stabilize as best he could. “Not gonna be my best landing!”

R2-D2 let out a screeching whistle just as Luke crashed through high treetops and then collided with the ground, the ship skidding up over what seemed to be a rocky mountainside. The console was blinking with multiple warning lights and Luke lurched forward in his seat as he came to a crunching halt. 

“Blast,” he said, breathing hard, rain pattering down onto the metal of his ship as lightning crackled overhead. Luke didn’t like the sound emanating from his communications system nor the hissing steam he saw from the engines as he levered himself up out of the cockpit.

“Leave it, Artoo,” he said as the droid protested being ejected out of his perch. “She’s not going anywhere anytime soon and we need to find cover.” Luke grabbed only what he could carry out of the storage compartment, a bag slung over his shoulder and a box with emergency camp set-up equipment inside.

He swiped his arm across his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision of rainwater and almost lost his footing, slipping on the gravelly ground. It was worse for R2, who trundled slowly after Luke, voicing displeasure all the way.

Luke found a small overhang that would have to do, enough to keep the rain out of his eyes as he set up camp. What a disaster. He hoped the storm would let up enough so he could get a better assessment of whatever the hell the landing had done to his ship.

“It could be worse,” Luke said, as he always felt it was best to look on the bright side. “I could’ve crashed us into another swamp.”

R2’s response wasn’t worth repeating.

-

Leia couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something wasn’t right. 

Ben was in the middle of the room, sitting on the floor, laughing as his tiny model X-wing zipped about his head. No problems there. Han and Chewie were at the market and she doubted even Han could get into too much trouble there. If he had, she felt sure, Leia would have more than a strange sense of misgiving. She still didn’t understand how this Force thing worked but she knew that she would know if Han needed her.

Luke… Well, Luke was far away, surely too far for their bond to reach. Luke could take care of himself.

But something wasn’t right.

She turned on the HoloNet news, searching for anything out of the ordinary. She even sent off a message to Lando, just in case.

Nothing.

Leia knelt down on the floor by Ben and smiled at him when he crashed his ship into her shoulder. Something was wrong.

She just didn’t know what to do about it.

-

The storm never quite passed and Luke wasn’t actually sure if it ever did on this planet, but it did stop raining for a while at least. The terrain wasn’t much easier to traverse than it had been when Luke landed, the mountainside still rocky and slick, but at least he could see where he was going.

Even without the rain, the ship didn’t look good. Luke was a good mechanic but… “I don’t think even we can get her back in the air again, Artoo,” Luke said, wiping a glob of dirt out of the thrusters.

R2 expressed reluctant agreement.

“She needs parts we don’t have and it’s not like there’s a helpful port we can get to on this planet. Let me check the comms again.”

Luke climbed back into the cockpit while R2-D2 rolled into position so he could get resettled into his perch in hopes of being useful. Thirty minutes later, though, and Luke wasn’t anything but frustrated. 

The rain had started again and he was no closer to getting off this miserable planet.

“Come on, Artoo,” he said. “Let’s get back before this gets worse.”

Back in their flimsy shelter, Luke huddled in his jacket and ate a protein bar out of his ration kit. “Tomorrow I’m gonna head out, start looking for the temple, but I’d feel a lot better if I had an exit plan.”

R2-D2’s sarcastic response likely would have appalled his programmer but it made Luke laugh. “Yeah, yeah, okay, point taken. Too bad I can’t just yell for Leia.”

Wait.

Luke didn’t know how far his connection with Leia could stretch. He didn’t know if distance mattered, or if Leia’s lack of training mattered. Hell, he didn’t even know if his own aborted training mattered. He didn’t know what he was doing most of the time, feeling like he was crawling around in the dark and making this up as he went.

But Leia had heard him on Bespin, before they had even understood why.

It was worth a shot. It might be the best chance Luke had.

“Artoo,” Luke said, brushing his hand to the droid’s familiar metal dome. “I’m gonna yell for my sister.”

-

Leia’s dreams were strange.

A man dressed in black, running. She felt like she knew him, _father, brother, Luke –_

But when she called he didn’t answer and when she chased after him he was gone.

Ben, crying, Ben, older, watching her, _mother, can’t you see, can’t you hear,_ Ben, a baby, cradled in Luke’s arms.

 _Listen,_ Luke said, but the sound of pattering rain drowned him out.

Bespin. Leia was so tired, and so _angry,_ and Han was gone, and Luke was… Luke was in trouble? 

“Luke,” she said, not knowing why, and heard him answer.

_Leia, Leia, please. Leia, help me._

“Luke,” she said, and saw him standing there, and she knew it wasn’t a dream.

He was wet and dirty, slim frame seeming small and vulnerable, his lightsaber at his hip. “Leia, can you hear me?”

“I can hear you. Luke, what’s wrong? What is this?”

“I didn’t think it would work. Leia, I crashed. I can’t get my ship operational again without the right parts; I can’t even get the comms online.”

“I’ll come for you,” Leia said, because it was the only answer. It was what she would always do. “Luke, are you safe?”

He shrugged. “Safe enough. Haven’t seen any wildlife yet but--”

“Don’t go looking for trouble. I’m coming to get you.”

She wanted to make him promise but he was fading and Leia was awake, blinking at the ceiling, and she couldn’t hear him anymore.

_Luke._

Han was asleep in the bed next to her. “Han,” Leia said, shaking him. “Han, we have to get Luke.”

“Whuh?” Han looked over his shoulder at her, blinking, befuddled enough that Leia could see it even as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

“Luke’s in trouble.” Leia had to make him see. It was real. It hadn’t been a dream.

Han pushed himself up onto his elbows, still half-asleep but coming out of it. “I guess we’re gonna have to go get him then.”

Leia kissed his mouth.

-

When Luke opened his eyes he could still hardly believe what he had done. “It worked!” he shouted at R2-D2. “It worked!”

The droid’s shrill but enthusiastic response roughly translated to, _You’ve managed not to get us destroyed!_

“Thanks for your confidence,” Luke said, rolling his eyes, but he was still smiling. 

Now he could go exploring without so much worry clouding his mind. He meditated for an hour to clear his head before sleep, so he wouldn’t be quite so excited.

In the morning it was raining still but not so hard that Luke couldn’t have a look around. The wind was sharp but manageable and the lightning crackled through the sky far enough away that Luke wasn’t concerned. He bundled up in a poncho and listened to R2-D2 fret at him.

“I didn’t make Leia any promises,” Luke insisted. “I came all the way here; I’m not gonna leave without even trying to look. I didn’t crash my ship for nothing.”

R2 whistled something in binary that sounded suspiciously like, _the princess is going to kick your organic ass._

Luke ignored him and started walking.

R2 followed him.

-

“You sure this is the right planet?” Han asked, gazing at the storm system surrounding it through the _Falcon_ ’s viewport.

“This is where he said he was going,” Leia confirmed. “Besides, I… Ever since we dropped out of hyperspace, I can feel him. He’s here.”

“Creepy,” Han muttered. “Dunno what’s creepier, the twin thing or the Force thing. But, hey, it’s pretty much like old times, right? You and me in the _Falcon,_ Luke in trouble.”

Leia rolled her eyes.

“And Chewie baby-sitting the kid. I guess that’s different.”

“But you’re still an idiot, so that part’s the same.”

“And you still love me anyway. Also the same.”

“I always did have terrible taste in men.”

Han leaned across the aisle to kiss her cheek. “Brace yourself, Leia. It’s gonna be rough coming in through these storms. This must be what got to Luke. Could’ve had the courtesy to warn us.”

“We’re lucky I even heard him,” Leia said, pinching her nails into her palms. _Luke, if you can hear me, we’re almost there._

_Please be safe._

-

“Damn it!” Luke said as he slipped, sliding down the incline on his ass, rock and shale biting into him. R2-D2 was shrieking behind him.

When Luke finally came to a stop, he just lay there, head against the mountainside, breathing. Finally he waved a hand so R2-D2 would stop asking if he was dead.

“Fine, Artoo,” Luke called. “Just, you know, my pride. Not that I had much of that left, anyway.”

At least the rain had stopped for half a minute. He was tired of perpetually feeling like a drowned tooka-cat. 

He closed his eyes for a minute. That was funny. Leia felt close, closer than since he’d left.

She was close.

“Artoo! Artoo, they’re here, they must be on the planet, or on their way. Artoo, we’re gonna get off this blasted rock!”

R2-D2 whirred in excitement, going around in a circle up above Luke’s position.

That, of course, was when Luke noticed the pair of eyes staring across from him from within the brush.

No, not a pair. Three eyes.

Luke tried to center himself, creating an air of calm that with any luck would soothe the creature. All the same, he settled his hand on his lightsaber. R2’s chattering was frantic and Luke attempted to quietly shush him.

“It’s all right,” he said, not certain if he was speaking to the droid or to the creature. “It’s all right.”

The creature was moving, slinking out of the shadows, teeth bared. It was hardly more than a large, indistinct shape but Luke could feel the antagonism radiating off it. It was clearly not calmed in the slightest.

 _A blaster would be better,_ Luke thought, thinking of Han. He pushed the button to ignite his lightsaber anyway, tensing his muscles and preparing to leap up.

The creature snarled, looking up, and Luke heard the sound of shouting, both in his head and outside it.

_Luke! Luke!_

_Leia,_ he thought, and projected the image of the creature to her.

Two blaster bolts felled it before either it or Luke could move, and Luke fell back against the mountainside again, exhaling, shutting down his saber. The creature slumped to the ground as Han and Leia, blasters drawn, came into view near R2 up above.

“Is a senator supposed to carry a blaster?” Luke asked, blinking up at Leia.

“She is when she’s got to rescue her fool of a brother,” Leia said, managing to make even her half-skid down the incline look purposeful and graceful. “Besides, this senator does what she wants.”

Her tiny smirk was so welcome and familiar that Luke could have kissed her.

Er. Or not.

Han didn’t look quite as graceful as Leia had coming down, but he also didn’t end up on his ass like Luke had. He held his hand out to haul Luke upright.

“Kid,” Han said, lips tilting crookedly. “I’ve lost count on how many you owe me now.”

“I think this one is mine,” Leia said, her expression a mix of exasperation, relief, and warmth. “Maybe you can keep your Jedi questing to planets the galaxy hasn’t forgotten?”

Luke let her hug him, wrapping his arms tightly around her back. “Pretty sure there wouldn’t be any questing to do, then.”

“That’s fine with me,” Leia said. _Luke. I’m glad you’re safe._

 _Thank you. For everything._ Luke held her tighter and then released her. “Can I show you something?”

Leia’s eyebrows drew together. “Show me something?”

“The reason I came here. To look for traces of the Jedi. I found something.”

“Glad to know we didn’t have to rescue your ass for nothing,” Han said, his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Let’s go see your Jedi stuff.”

-

Luke took them back up the mountain and deeper into the interior, R2-D2 wheeling along behind them. The sky was gray and thunder boomed, but distantly. Leia hoped they might be able to depart before the storm picked up again.

She felt strange the longer she walked, like something was prickling at her skin, but she didn’t know what it was. It was almost like her sense of foreboding before Luke had contacted her except different. Less fretful and disturbing, more… peaceful.

“You feel it, too, don’t you?” Luke asked softly.

“What is it?”

“You’ll see soon,” Luke said, his face and voice so serene and Leia pursed her lips. Sometimes her brother was kriffing annoying.

As they walked Leia began to notice traces, remnants, eroded stones that might once have been part of a walkway, a crumbling wall, the base of a column. They were moving through ruins and the feeling was getting stronger.

“You were right,” Leia said. “There was a temple here. A long time ago. And…” She hesitated. There was something else, lingering beneath the sense of serenity. A stench. “Death.”

Luke’s gaze was all around, but not on Leia. “Yes. It didn’t end well here. Maybe the Sith, a very long time ago.”

“For a religion,” Han said, “you all seem to spend a lot of time killing each other.”

“Yes,” Luke said again, and it seemed like he was listening to something, or to someone. Sometimes Leia thought he _was_ listening to someone she couldn’t see, something outside her understanding.

The feeling of peacefulness was intensifying as they approached what almost appeared to be the ruins of a courtyard, a crushed fountain, its source long since dried up, the only water now coming from the sky.

And a tree, large, beautiful, central, as though whatever had been here had been built around it, the temple’s chief glory. The leaves glistened, a shimmering green like Leia had never seen before. She couldn’t help the way she moved forward, as though she was drawn by a force outside of herself, until she was touching the trunk.

Abruptly she pulled her hand back, startled. “Why does it feel like that?” Not like it was sentient, but not like any tree Leia had ever encountered.

Luke was beaming. “The tree itself has the Force.”

Han scoffed. “You’re trying to tell me a plant has the Force?”

“It’s like the fragments you found,” Leia said. “From the tree on Coruscant.”

Luke nodded. “But this tree is even older, centuries maybe, certainly older than anything I’ve ever seen.”

Even Han seemed almost impressed. Leia tilted her head back and looked up, to where the topmost branches reached for the sun that couldn’t be seen through the clouds. She wondered how it even survived, but then, perhaps Luke had already answered that question.

“Beautiful,” Leia said.

She didn’t understand the Force, her connection to it; she still hardly even accepted that it was true. She didn’t understand it like Luke did. Being here, though, she thought she could see the beauty in it, as Luke did, as well as the power.

“Not even the Empire could destroy everything,” Luke said, all that bright hopefulness that Leia had always loved about him. She slipped her arm around his waist and leaned into him.

“When he’s older, maybe I could take Ben here,” he said.

Han clapped Luke on the back. “Not unless you learn how to land in the meantime. I don’t want to still be rescuing your ass in fifteen years.”

Luke’s smile was sweet. “You would always come if I needed you.”

Han squeezed his shoulder. “Yeah.”

Leia felt a sort of warmth rise up in herself, swelling in her chest. This place, the tree, but mostly Han and Luke. So much had happened but it was comforting to know that some things stayed the same.

The thunder boomed louder overhead, closer, and Leia wondered how much longer it would be before the skies opened up again. “Did you get what you needed here, Luke?”

He nodded. “We can go, if you want. There’s nothing left of the temple, just this tree. I just wanted you to see it.”

Leia squeezed his waist.

Han slung his arm around Leia. “Come on, let’s see the mess you made of your ship, kid.”

“Wasn’t exactly my fault,” Luke said, still with a glimmer of that little boy innocent petulance that was oddly endearing.

R2-D2 whistled something Leia couldn’t understand but that made Luke laugh. “Okay, yes, that’s true, and it was a tiny bit my fault. But that’s why I have you, Artoo, and Han and Leia. To help me when I need it.”

The droid seemed satisfied by that response and Leia couldn’t help her smile as they all walked along together arm in arm.

Some things did stay the same, and she hoped this always would.


End file.
